What does crowdsourcing mean to an editor? Asking the audience. Doesn’t sound so radical, does it? But within mainstream media, the very term is plagued by controversy. This revealing video gives the view from some leading pioneers, both in the back room and on the front line.

The video offers a fascinatingly insightful journey into the wide variety of different ways that both mainstream media and ‘citizen journalists’ are responding to crowdsourcing opportunities.

Here’s the description of the session. Crowdsourcing: Hosted by the NY Times from Social Media Week New York (February 5, 2010)

A look at the innovative ways that journalists, bloggers, developers and news organizations are using social media and technology to involve more people in the creative and news gathering process.

Rachel Sterne, CEO of GroundReport, an online citizen journalism-based news service (at the time of writing this, the YouTube page does not mention Rachel and instead sys that says that Amanda Michel, editor, distributed reporting, ProPublica was on the panel).